Introducing Bison Bindery

As I enter the tenth anniversary of the first inkling of Also the Bison (when I took my first ever product, a silk scarf, to the Liberty Open Call) I wanted to go back to basics and take stock of how far I've come. To say a lot has changed in the world in the last decade is an understatement, and I'm very grateful to still be making art ten years on. 

It was never actually my intention to have a career running my own business. Less than a year after I created that first product, I was fired from my job in the fashion industry. At a loss of what to do next, I saw an advert for a craft fair and applied, and as they say, the rest is history.

I fell in love with designing and creating products from those designs, of putting the skills I'd learned in fashion to good use finding suppliers that I could work with that believed in saving the planet like I did, and of meeting people who loved my work. Things went from strength to strength. I was constantly chasing the excitement of a new product, of the next big thing. I'm proud to say I was one of the first to launch eco-friendly illustrated Christmas decorations made in the UK, and I'm still one of only a few small businesses who make printed paper tape here in the UK too. 

But somewhere along the way, I lost sight of why I was creating. I was stuck in a constant state of panic trying to keep everything in stock and trying to launch the next big thing. As the economy started to slow down after the rush that followed the pandemic, I began to think about why I started my business in the first place, and the answer was, I didn't really know. 

My founding principles have always been strong. I believe in William Morris' stance that a product has to be both beautiful and useful, I am committed to producing ethically and sustainably and not creating waste, and I am just as dedicated to painting animals. 

So I began to think to myself, what would I do if I founded my business today? What would I design? What products would I create? What would that business plan look like? And the answer is, not a lot would change, but I would stop spreading myself so thin and do more of what I love, and what I have always loved is stationery. I love the feeling of a crisp blank page under my pencil, and the endless possibilities before me. I love a complete set of pencils in every colour in my pencilcase, I love having a new notebook for each new project, I love my bullet journal and I love decorating it with stickers. I love the sense of calm from a matching set of stationery, and the feeling that anything is possible. 

And so, in its tenth year, I close the page on Also the Bison and enter a new chapter: Bison Bindery. 

Like the name, not a lot will change. The ethos will remain the same, all my products will be made both ethically and sustainably. I will be keeping all our favourite designs, but I'll be launching new designs a little slower. The same is true of products, some of which will be discontinued, but I hope to be able to introduce some new things too, and have a little bit more room for fun and experimentation. I'll also be going back to my own roots a little more, and incorporating not only my love of nature into Bison Bindery, but also my love of history. As a species we have been writing for five thousand years, and in an age of technology I hope to bring some of the joy back to the simple act of putting pen to paper. And I also want to free up my own ability to put pen to paper, or more accurately, paintbrush to canvas, and have the freedom to enjoy painting for myself again. 

But most of all, what I hope to take forward is a slower, more thoughtful business that I can be proud of for another decade. So here's to Bison Bindery.